My plans for this week mainly revolved around trying to get some work and life admin sorted. To this extent I have made some achievements, such as finally sending in the paperwork to get my parking permit and getting my new phone up and running.
I’ve been carrying around the forms for blood tests and a referral letter to see an allergy specialist & immunologist for a while. The blood test is to evaluate my thyroid function as I have had a real issue losing weight despite exercising a heap this year, cutting down my alcohol consumption by about half, and transitioning over to a plant-based, vegan diet. The drugs I was taking last year for my mental health cause slowing of the metabolism and so I put on a lot of weight, but can’t shift it despite stopping taking them.
Seeing the immunologist was a recommendation from my GP a long while back as I wanted to try and get to the bottom of why I have so many allergic conditions. I have eczema, asthma, hayfever and IBS so I am prescribed steroid creams, inhalers, antihistamines and anti-spasmodic drugs to manage these symptoms. But I do believe that these are symptoms of an underlying condition and the immunologist I hoped would be able to get to the cause of these symptoms.
I managed to get the blood test this week and got back the results to hear they are normal. Normal means that the results fall within a normal range, but may not necessarily mean that it is normal for me. Unfortunately I only got a text to say they were normal, not the ranges and the values so there isn’t much to understand or learn from it.
The next step was to contact the private medical insurance company, I have a policy that I pay into at work that has ‘no limitations’, and so I rang them today to get the approval to see the specific consultant my GP had previously recommended. I was asked the specific reason I was being referred so I explained that it was due to a development in my symptoms that my GP was referring me to an allergy specialist, so that I can find the route cause of these symptoms I have.
The upshot of the conversation with them was that as these are chronic conditions, I would not be given private medical cover to see the specialist.
So I cried.
Why is it so fucking hard for me to get help? I feel I always have to fight for it. Its so exhausting.
So I have to now consider paying privately to see a specialist who may or not be able to help me or go back to the GP and see whether they can do anything. I know there are options, so please don’t send me suggestions; but my mental health condition makes it incredibly hard for me to go through these processes. I initially saw my GP about the allergies 3 years ago, which was when they recommended Dr Brostoff and it has been over a month since I went back to get a referral letter, and only today I rang the insurance company. To get faced with another brick wall like this is such a set back. Why can it not be easy?
It has also now been over 8 weeks since I saw the psychiatrist and there has been no follow-up from that. I mentioned that when I went to the GP a month ago, and they were chasing it up. Another brick wall.
Meh.
my happy life project 